The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Captain (Infantry), [then First Lieutenant] Edward Edmunds, Jr., United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 102d Infantry Regiment, 26th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Verdun, France, 27 October 1918. An order having been received from division headquarters for an accurate report on the strength present in the front line, Captain Edmunds crawled from shell hole to shell hole in broad daylight and in plain view of the enemy who kept him under a continuous sniping fire from numerous machine guns. Going on under these conditions he personally counted every man in the front line of the battalion that he was commanding and made his report to the regimental commander.